The Boarders
by Anastatius Cypress
Summary: Alyssa returns from a very unfruitful subordinate extermination mission to find that Dennis has hired some workers to rebuild the demolished boarding house, yet she soon realizes that the help may be a bit more trouble than they are worth...


Disclaimer: I, Anastatius Cypress, do not at all own the lovely characters told of in this fanfiction. They belong to the wonderfully creative people at Capcom. Ms. Kay is also not an original character of mine, anyone who has played the original Clock Tower game will recognize her, and hopefully find her presence and role amusing. Also, no rats or hedges were harmed in the writing of this fanfiction; I do hope that puts your mind at ease.

Author's Note: This is the first time I've written a fanfiction in a long while, but it really does feel good to have started up again. I simply couldn't resist this idea, it was just too magical to pass up, and I'm quite happy with how it's turning out. There are a couple of brief references to the first Clock Tower game in the beginning - specifially Ms. Kay and an odd thought about Norway. However people who haven't played the first game (which I'm guessing is quite a few, it is a rather old playstation game) will have no trouble understanding the story at all. I'll post up the following chapter if I recieve some reviews for this one.

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**Chapter I: "I am not my darling Alyssa's grandfather!"**

"Alyssa… where have you been?"

Alyssa wished time and time again that she had chose to answer that question differently. This inquiry was posed by Ms. Kay, an often disgruntled headmaster of the boarding school she had attended for many years. Although disgruntled, Ms. Kay was still within her right mind, so naturally the answer, "I was traveling back through time defeating subordinates to fulfill my noble duties as a Rooder and to stop my twisted grandfather from performing the Ritual of Engagement with my heart," did not go over well with her. That was the day Alyssa was expelled from boarding school.

Exiting with her head hung low, the girl began the walk back to her home. It was not a long walk really, considering the boarding school happened to be right next door to the boarding house she resided in. Sometimes Alyssa wondered what her mother was thinking the moment she sent her off.

"Did she really think I would be safer five minutes away from home under a less watchful eye?" she muttered to herself bitterly.

Alyssa had been looking forward to leading a normal life after the entire ordeal. Going back to boarding school, as she had been doing before she was aware of her Rooder blood, would have been the first step. Sadly, that chance was cruelly shot down, along with Alyssa's hopes.

Traveling slowly down the forested road, which was composed of earthy toned cobblestones, she began to think more deeply of the subject. Maybe it was a sign of some sort. Not letting her go back to a normal life might be someone's way of telling her that she needed to continue her duties. It struck her suddenly; Alyssa stopped in her tracks. Of course that was it! Why on earth would generations of her family have to battle subordinates continually if there were only five of them? It would be a horrible mistake to just stop now, there must be thousands more subordinates scattered all across England (and maybe a few in Norway, although she didn't know how that particular thought came up.)

It turned out that she had stopped lost in thought right in front of her house (which wasn't much of a surprise; it was an average trip of five minutes), or what was left of it. Really it was only an expansive field, surrounded on three sides by large forests. There wasn't much left after the clock tower had come down; that is, aside from the giant heap of rubble center stage. Around it, the grass shone a bright, contrasting, springtime green, and scattered about it were hundreds of white clovers. A gentle breeze flowed through them, causing a soft rustling. With her new realization, and the warm sun shining upon her, she felt completely at peace. That was, until something hit the right side of her head violently, causing her to go into brief shock and fall over in a trembling heap. Making odd, pained noises, she clutched the spot where it had hit. A throbbing pain was shooting through it. Footsteps rushed in her direction, yet stopped a fair distance from her.

"Hey! Alyssa! You didn't catch!"

Alyssa writhed on the ground and let out a loud growl. "Dennis! Why!?"

Dennis jumped back a bit, frightened of her wrath. But then, approaching her a couple steps closer (but still being careful to remain out of her reach), he cocked his head to the side and asked, "What's the matter Alyssa? When I throw the ball, you're supposed to catch it."

Springing up into a sitting position, she glowered at him and motioned angrily. "You never said to catch it! I didn't even know you were there!"

She glanced down briefly at the yellow tennis ball he had hurled at her, and thought despairingly about how she would never be able to play tennis at her old school again. Yet she had made up her mind, her destiny awaited her elsewhere. Tennis awaited her elsewhere! It was time to tell Dennis of her plans. She raised her head high, picked herself up, and dusted her skirt off, even though it really hadn't gotten dirty at all. Such formality seemed necessary though.

Her sudden serious gaze was enough to stop Dennis in his tracks. Previously he had been doing a random jig brought on by his hyperactive nature, but now he stood still, waiting to see what she had to say to him.

"Dennis…" she started with the shadow of a sigh in her voice, "I have something I need to talk to you about. I know that it seems sudden, but I have to go off again. It's my duty."

She paused a bit, hoping she could get Dennis to understand. He was staring at her with a puzzled look on his face. What she had learned in the past couple of days seemed too much to explain fully to someone else in the time of only a few minutes. Yet she had to do her best; it would be unfair to leave him without an explanation.

Closing her eyes Alyssa explained further. "Those horrible creatures from yesterday… there are more of them, all over England. And I… I'm a Rooder. I must go defeat them! Or what happened to you, and me, and all those other people in the hospital, will happen again."

Another pause; this was difficult, but she was getting though it. And Dennis hadn't raised any protest to it yet. "It's in my blood Dennis, to defeat those creatures, and-"

Her speech cut off sharply, for at this point she had opened her eyes. Staring her in the face was a rubble pile in an empty field. Her eyes darted about looking for Dennis. Where had he gone off to?!

"Dennis?" she called out questioningly.

Shortly after she spotted him. He was in the high branch of a tree to her right side, dancing fiercely as an energetic native would. She tensed in vexation; did he thrive on a diet completely made up of sugar, or was he just in need of medication?! She again realized the reason why they had not spoken with each other for so long, Alyssa had gotten annoyed at him a few years back for never being able to carry on a serious conversation with her.

"Dennis! Get out of that tree, I'm trying to talk to you!" she cried out angrily.

Dennis stopped all dancing and looked down at Alyssa with a blank expression. "Oh alright Alyssa, you don't have to yell you know."

Alyssa couldn't believe this. He had said that in a tone as if she was the one who was out of line. She sighed loudly, mostly out of vexation, but partially out of relief; at least she had gotten him to get out of the tree rather quickly. And so he did come out of the tree, not very gracefully however. Alyssa stared shocked after he hit the ground with a horribly loud thud. When he picked himself up, she was amazed that he had not broken any bones. When he looked over at her however, she quickly turned her head to the left as if she had been ignoring him the entire time, and continued speaking. This time around, she decided that she wouldn't be so thorough on the explanation.

"Now, Dennis, I'm going off for a while. And I want you to- Dennis!" She shouted at him again.

"What?"

Dennis blinked and tilted his head at her in confusion, as a puzzled doggie would. This time he was sitting on the rubble pile, not horribly high on it though. Actually, a normal person walking onto the scene would find nothing wrong with his conduct. Alyssa saw it as unacceptable however.

"Get off of the roof!"

"What?" Dennis replied with an incredulous look upon his face, drawing out the vowel several syllables.

"The roof! Get off of it!" she reiterated

"The roof?" he replied in the same tone.

"Yes! That part of the house is my roof! And that is what you are sitting on! Now get off of it!"

"Alyssa…"

"Off!"

He couldn't really argue, although misplaced due to the house's collapse, it was indeed part of the roof. So, Dennis stood up, and stepped down onto the ground. As was said before, it wasn't horribly high above it. Alyssa, seemingly satisfied, continued on.

"Well I forgot what I was going to ask you, " she started with a glare, "But that aside, I'm going to travel though Europe vanquishing the evil subordinates placed on this earth by the Devil."

"Doe the Devil really have something to do with it?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"That's besides the point! And it's the only conclusion I could come to with my Catholic upbringing!"

"Alright…alright…"

"Well, " she said, poised in a stance of pride, "That's it. I'm leaving now. Goodbye Dennis!" Alyssa began to walk off.

Dennis suddenly became even more alert than previously, and called out to Alyssa. She stopped, turning around to face him.

"But wait Alyssa! What am I going to do!?"

She blinked in surprise. "Well, what do you mean Dennis? You'll stay here and… eat pudding?"

"No!" he cried out, "I know I'll do that, but I'll have nothing else to do! Mum and Dad aren't home, and Sis really is off and away for another eight months. Now you're leaving, I'll have no one else to pal around with!"

With a sympathetic look, she walked up towards him. "I'm sorry Dennis, really, I am. But you have to understand… this is destiny. I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to."

She tried on a smile made a suggestion, "Why don't you busy yourself with something else?" Alyssa looked past him towards corpse of her home, "You could get that fixed up for one, that ought to keep you busy!" It would also make her rather happy when she came home if there was a nice fireplace to sit by.

She could tell Dennis was playing around with this thought in his mind. She hoped to God that it would become acceptable to him. She had not at all planned her travels yet; however there was a possibility that she was missing a train right now. That would be a shame. To her relief, Dennis reacted positively to the idea and cheered up immediately,

"Well, alright then! When you get home, the place will be spick and span! Everything new! All four walls and everything!" He gesticulated grandly. "I could even hire some handymen to keep me company!"

Alyssa made a positive gesture back towards him. "That's the spirit Dennis! You go on and do that, and have a fire going in the hearth when I get back!"

With that and an exchanged last wave, they parted. Dennis watched her figure become more and more distant, until it finally shrank to a speck and disappeared. At this point his mind went blank, and he lay down in the tall grass, left with nothing to do…

… Aside from fixing the entire house himself… or hiring workers… and getting money to pay the workers… that would mean taking a job most likely… unless he could find a stash of money his parents had been hiding from him… or locate that sock of coins he had misplaced the previous year…

Dennis's idle thoughts went on in that manner for a good half an hour. His progressive reckonings were however, eventually interrupted by the sound of footsteps, Heavyset ones at that. Still lax, he turned his head in the direction they were coming from. He could see shoes; round, well polished, and dark, like olives. Not the green type with the seasonings, but the black ones that he favored so well. Hanging around the ankles was a coat of the same shade; it moved little and seemed to be as heavy as the shoes' soles may have been. Dennis wondered if the man bought them as a pair, at a flea market maybe; or one of those nifty second hand stores. Dennis liked second hand stores very much. It was at one he got his pirate hat from, and Alyssa had bought all those strange costumes that she keeps in her closet for no apparent reason from there too.

The footsteps ceased. The dark man, wearing a round hat that somehow obscured his face in shadow, even from the perspective that Dennis was looking at it in, gazed down him with a wide grin plastered on its face.

"Hello boy… would you like a **lollypop**!?" He said the last word with much enthusiasm

Dennis paused and looked up at him. "Not really… do I know you from somewhere?" He sat up a bit and pointed a finger towards the man.

The dark man started and stepped back abruptly.

"Why no, no, of course not. We've never met, not once, not ever!"

Dennis still didn't seem satisfied, cocking his head to the side and squinting at the man still.

"Are you sure I don't know you? You look awfully familiar… You don't shop at Webley's, do you?"

"Ah… why, er, yes… that must be it." It actually was not a lie. Not that the dark man had any qualms with telling a lie or two, but this was the truth. He loved Webley's, which just happened to be where he had purchased his coat and shoes.

"I like their 'Pineapples and Primrose' sales the best!" Dennis piped cheerfully. That was where they gave you a free pineapple and primrose with every twenty five hundred dollars spent on napkin related products. The boy himself had been an avid fan of this deal, and to this day still had a closet brimming with fruit and flowers from years back.

"Ah-hah…" the man said with much distaste. He hated pineapples, wretched things they were. "Well you can't judge a man by his coat tails, now can you?" Even he himself did not know the meaning of this expression, but he used it anyway, because for some reason it gave him authority.

Dennis's eyes brightened and he shot up. "I know you!" he cried out excitedly. The dark man gazed on in horror. "You're Alyssa's grandfather! I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"

The man backed away from Dennis, gesturing negatively all the while. "No, no… of course not… you know I'm abroad…"

"But no!" He said, darting closer, "You're here!"

"That's not the matter at hand at all my dear boy!"

"Yes it is! It's exactly the matter!"

"I'll tell you once, and I'll tell you again! I am not my darling Alyssa's grandfather!"

"Well," he paused, "Who are you then? Her grandfather's twin brother? Or maybe her grandmother?" He continued on with this, a bit playfully. "An estranged uncle maybe? Or the postman that came into the house once and broke the furniture-" That last one was in a bit more of a serious tone, as if he was actually considering it.

"Enough! I am not any of those! I am…" he searched desperately for the next word in his improvisation. "…I am…" In the next second it came to him, although he couldn't help but utter it with a hint of distaste. "I am an angel."

"A what?"

"Don't make me say it again! An angel, a guardian, a good spirit, a youthful young girl at her piano lessons, my wife at a more cherished age! An angel is what I am boy!" He said this with a grand finality; and a rightful one at that, if he had gone any further who knows what other interesting thoughts might have flown out of his throat.

Dennis stood dumbfounded. After a moderate silence, he asked cautiously, "Is God angry at me?"

The man sighed. "Yes! But we don't care about that now!" he promptly took his place at Dennis's side and wrapped one arm around the troubled boy's shoulders. "You, my boy, need some help I see! And I am here to bring it to you!"

"You are?" he questioned.

"Yes… yes I am," the dark man replied in a warmer tone.

There was a pause. "With what?" Dennis asked bluntly.

The man added another pause on to the moment. "Well look boy! He half shouted, forcing Dennis to turn in another direction. "Look, your house is in shambles!" The man, still holding Dennis, pointed off towards the former boarding house, now just an immense pile of rubble

"It's not my house actually…"

"Oh, well yes, but you're caring for it now, aren't you?"

"Well yes, I suppose…"

"Well…" the man went on, "Don't you need some…" he stepped away to face the boy and motioned openly with his hands for Dennis to fill in the obvious blank word.

"…Some glue?"

The dark man snarled in frustration at the boy's mental incompetence. "Help! You want some **help**! Don't you!? Free workmen?! Build house for you, yes boy!? **You need help**!!"

He stood gazing fiercely at Dennis after his brief, yet exasperated outburst. Dennis somehow still didn't seem to notice that he was upsetting him however. He did get the general message though, and brightened up at the thought of it. Help was exactly what he needed! That way he'd be plenty busy talking to the workmen, and boredom would come to a festive end. And the man didn't seem as if he was about to charge for it, although he was a bit disgruntled looking at the moment. Dennis nodded towards him excitedly, and he seemed to cool off a tad bit.

"Yes! Yes I do need some help! I can't build a house up by myself, now can I?!" he was almost giddy at the thought of having some other people around. Now it didn't matter when Alyssa came back, he wouldn't be lonesome at all with all of the new friends he was going to make!

"Good, good! You'll accept it then?"

Dennis clutched his hands to his chest and nodded excitedly, cheeks raised up like a chipmunk's.

"That's superb then!" the dark man motioned widely. "I'll have them over right away! And that unappreciative granddaughter of mine will finally get what she ought to have had in the first place from me!"

"What?" Dennis looked up at him questioningly.

"Nothing, you'll get a house." What a curt end to an awkward moment.

"Oh… alright then." Dennis was once again all smiles.

The man grabbed the boy's shoulder and directed his attention over to the forest foliage, where some minute rustling now seemed to be taking place. "You had better ready yourself boy… I think they may already be here!"

If the story of Alyssa's travels could be compared to that of a noble oak tree, it would go something like this. In spring, it would stand tall in a field of blossoming flowers, the air tasting fresh, with dreams unlimited. Summer would soon follow, much quicker than expected. The days are warm and lengthy, sometimes to the point of being downright uncomfortable, but optimism carries on. Then autumn, where everything laid uncertain, and a jaded mindset from half a years worth of experience begins to affect its outlook on things. Finally, bitter winter: cold, damp, and frustrating. And that's when Mother Nature realizes that it's high time to start the year over and try again from step one.

In more literal terms, Alyssa brightly carried herself to the train station in high spirits and rode to God knows where. There, she began her search for subordinates. It was anything but fruitful, yet she remained determined that someone, somewhere, would give her information that would lead to something. After being jeered at to the point of near harassment several times, she simply began hoping she would be sent back in time randomly by some higher power as had happened before. And at the very end, when on a daily basis she found herself wandering dimly lit back roads seeded with low end pubs and overpriced trinket shops, she decided to take the same train right back home and soon after desperately beg her former headmaster for admission back into school. It was the longest four days of her life.

And now, back to the present. Alyssa stood in front of her house in shock, for it was actually there. Furthermore, the lawn was mowed, the area was clear of debris, and hedges taller than her head had been planted in front of her, flanked by an ornate fence and gate. There was even a stone walkway leading up the house, and a small plaza in the center with a working fountain. Everything was just as it used to be, and actually it could be considered better. Even now, Alyssa could hear the distant sounds of the hired workers tending to their duties. Out behind the house came the noise of hammering, and a chopping of wood. She could also see the hands and tools of two hedge trimmers peeking over the plants, working away busily from the other side. Both had placed themselves at opposite ends of the gate.

They especially seemed to be enjoying their work actually, for they kept up a peculiar and incessant giggling. Alyssa wondered what could make them so happy, it was a rather warm day out; and not many people took pleasure in doing outside chores, especially if they were required to do it every day for a meager paycheck. She uttered a faint noise of curiosity at this, and then reasoned that perhaps they had seen that she had arrived for her big surprise and were giddy with the thought of her happiness. That must be it! Alyssa smiled and pushed the gate open, receiving little resistance from it. As she stepped through however, she heard the pattering of feet traveling away from her, and saw that as she came through, both hedge trimmers had somehow quickly made it to the other side of the gate and hedges, in an attempt to hide from her. The giggling continued.

Alyssa paused and murmured to herself. "That's odd…"

Workers didn't usually do things like that. She also wondered how they had managed to get to the end of the fencing, and up and over it so quickly without her even catching a glimpse of either of them. She reasoned that they must have been quite nimble; probably teenagers, troublemakers her age that were used to hopping over fences and away from the authorities in that manner. That must have been it. There wasn't much odd about younger people giggling at nothing and running about quickly, nothing at all. Dennis did it all the time. Alyssa shrugged it off and continued up the walkway towards her new house.

She had reached the doorway when she noticed a rank stench coming from her left. Pausing, she turned, looked, and nearly gagged at the sight. Directly underneath one of the windows, lay a large pile of rat corpses. The rats were in quite bad shape, being dead and all, and seemed to have been left out there for a good amount of time. Alyssa jumped quite violently when another rat was plopped onto the pile with a sickening thud. She looked upwards soon enough to see a large hand, gloved in dark leather, pull itself back inside the window and out of sight. A bit of a grunt was heard during the action, and fading footsteps followed.

Alyssa shuddered.

"It must be an exterminator…" she muttered to herself, still uncertain about this assumption however. It was very strange, she had never heard of a brand new house suddenly acquiring a rat problem. Even if there were rats living in the rubble pile, it seemed like those rats would scatter off into the forest.

"Well," she thought out loud, "Maybe Dennis was leaving crumbs around like he always does."

He was never the neatest person she knew. It seemed like something that could happen with him. Yet another thing about this still bothered Alyssa; she had never heard of a house this large, or any house for that matter, being built in this short of a time period from practically nothing. Houses took quite a bit of work to plan out and construct. But not this one apparently, it was built in only four days. They even had a fountain installed properly. Something definitely did feel off about this entire thing. She didn't know what she could possibly be suspicious of however, the house was built and that was that, she couldn't argue with it sitting right in front of her.

The hammering and chopping noises from behind the house were clearer now, with her standing closer to them. Alyssa pulled away from the door and walked back down the path a bit. Perhaps she should wait before going inside. There were still workers out back, and she couldn't hear any giggling from them, which meant they probably could give her some straight information about what was going on and explain everything clearly to her. After that, she would go inside. With her mind made up, she began to stroll past the house towards its backside.

As she neared the corner, her pace slowed as she examined the situation. The hammering was being done to the back wall of the house, and it sounded fairly close to the corner she was approaching. It was very forceful hammering at that, she could hear the man grunt loudly with every swing and hit. These noises were spaced fairly well apart as well, suggesting the hammer he was using was an unusually heavy one; like a mallet or a sledgehammer perhaps. But that didn't make any sense to Alyssa. Why on earth would you need to hammer the back corner of a house with a sledgehammer?

Violently and abruptly, the corner of the house groaned, cracked, and sagged to the ground. Its very foundation had been smashed out from under it! Alyssa, shocked, rushed to the corner and around it to see just what his madman thought he was up to. She didn't know a thing about house building, but breaking the project after it was finished certainly wasn't something he was being paid to do. While turning around the corner to face this person, she began to loudly chastise him. Yet when she caught a glimpse of him, her voice disappeared and she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

Things, indeed, were not quite right, as she had suspected. For staring her straight in the face, hunched over in his usual stance and grinning grotesquely, was the one known as Sledgehammer. And he was carrying with him an instrument that was very true to his name.

Alyssa was frozen; every muscle in her body felt tense and she couldn't help but tremble uncontrollably. Her eyes wide as a bug's, her mouth also wide with a trembling lower lip, her throat tight and drying quickly, it was obvious that she was in quite the shock. Although she had just spent the last few days searching for subordinates such as this one, this was the last thing she had expected to run into at this point. There was truly no way of getting used to these people. Alyssa was so frightened she honestly felt as if she was going to burst into tears. Her balance was near failing, which caused her to stretch her arms out from her body a bit, and to rearrange her footing every few seconds.

At this he uttered his usual laugh, low and sadistic with a touch of indecency. A widening of the grin and one brief explanation followed this. "Finishing touches…"

"Ah… aaah…" Alyssa uttered, for this was all she could bring herself to vocalize while lifting a trembling finger to point at him with. She had stepped back half a step's worth when another voice was heard from the distance, this one much more civilized sounding and preceded by a loud, vexed sigh.

"You wouldn't believe how many blackberry bushes there were growing out there, I nearly lost an eye!"

A pale figure emerged from the forest to her left side, with an armload of firewood. Alyssa became rigid yet again for a brief amount of time, but then quickly composed herself as much as possible and hopped to her right away from the man. In retrospect, she really shouldn't have been all that surprised. If the house building crew was made up of murderous psychopaths, then it was only suiting that the Chopper would be the one designated to chop the firewood.

He noticed her sudden movement and directed his attention away from Sledgehammer and towards her, then called out her name. He called it out in that particularly quick manner he sometimes did before hurling a small battleaxe towards her head. Not to suggest that this time he didn't throw one at her head of course. It hit the tree beside her, missing her face by a few inches.

This was getting to be too much for Alyssa. Of course she was a fairly confident person, with much belief in her self during hard times, etc, etc, that sort of thing, but even she knew when she was horribly outmatched. The only time she had ever had to deal with two subordinates at once was with the scissor twins, and even then they never chased her two at a time. The only person who had to deal with both of them was Dennis himself in fact, and he didn't do very well with that at all. And with all of this in mind, Alyssa decided that the "Run Away and Hide Until I Find Something to Throw at Them" strategy would be most appropriate in this situation. She did an about-face and bolted towards the front of the house. Turning the corner, she made a beeline to the front door, not taking her eyes off of it for even a second. She was driven to get into shelter; her adrenaline had finally kicked in. If she was avoiding heart attacks, this was a very good thing for her; for if she had happened to glance over to her right, towards the gate, she would have seen Scissorman and Scissorwoman perched atop the hedges, feet dangling and kicking playfully whilst they waved at her cheerfully and called out her name.

Alyssa threw open the door and slammed it just as quickly behind her, backing herself up against it instinctively. Her eyes darted, making sure no one else who wished to harm her was in her sight. Her breathing was heavy, she had just noticed, and she waited to catch her breath and to ease the raw feeling in her windpipe. She listened intently, but for a few moments all she could hear was her own heart in her ears. She absently wondered how it got up there in the first place. Alyssa closed her eyes and tried to relax, she was already near panicking as it was. They didn't seem to be chasing her, so as long as she didn't hear any sudden movements she would know she was safe for the time being.

"Strange…" she thought, eyes now open and breathing close to normal. Logically, being serial killers, they should have chased her. "Oh well." She decided to just accept it and count her blessings.

Alyssa gazed absently down at the wooden floor, new and polished. She noticed scattered discolorations however, as if something had been spilt there. The only thing she could thing of doing that was nail polish remover, which left lighter patches on wood sometimes. The thudding in her head had subsided now, and she heard a spraying noise coming from upstairs. Thudding footsteps too, they were coming from either the upstairs hall or from her room. She listened intently; it was from her room. Someone was chasing something, spraying something at it. Every so often a muffled yell came through the wall. The voice sounded coarse and vulgar in nature. Alyssa gazed down at the discolorations on the floor yet again, and knew what they really were.

She decided to dart into the dining room, which may not have been the smartest plan, but seemed to be the most secure at the moment. She closed the door and searched for a lock on the knob when inside, soon frustrated to not have found one. She sighed, now feeling somewhat mentally fatigued, and slid down into a sitting position against the wall, scanning the room for a good hiding place if she needed one. There was none really, unless you counted the fireplace, which definitely wouldn't work out in the end. The large dining table was still there, but only an idiot would think himself safe in someplace like that.

"Alyssa!"

The harsh whisper caused her to jump.

"Wh-who is it!?" she whispered back just as harshly, searching for something to arm herself with.

"It's me! Dennis!" he reached out and poked her leg. Alyssa cried out and quickly sat herself in a kneeling position, looking to see where the arm came from. She quickly found Dennis; he was hiding under the dining room table, grinning nervously.

"Dennis!" she cried out in relief, but just as much in accusation. "What did you do!?"

"What did I do!?" he started in a normal voice. Alyssa quickly shushed him.

"Yes! What did you do?!"

"Nothing! I just hired some help to fix the house."

"Some **help**!? Help!? You call this help!" she cried out, still in a loud whisper.

"Well they fixed the house, didn't they!?"

"That's besides the point!" Alyssa looked as if she was about ready to pull her own hair out.

"I didn't know it would be them!" Dennis cried defensively. "This man just came and asked me if I wanted some help with the house, and I-"

Dennis was quickly cut off, and immediately after ducked back into his hiding spot. The door had been flung open, and a small rat that had entered through a barely noticeable hole in the wall met its own horrible little fate.

'HaHaaaaa!" laughed the Corroder triumphantly, "Never thought I'd 'ave caught that little bugger did ya!?" He did a small victory hop and sprayed a few spurts of acid into the air.

He stooped over a bit and turned his head to face Alyssa. Alyssa, still on the floor, backed away as quickly as she could as he approached her, until she eventually found herself completely cornered, literally. She couldn't even manage to get to the fireplace from where she was, considering she was right next to it.

"Well then!" he called out to her, even though he was directly above her. "It's the little Rooder wench, now isn't it!?"

Alyssa trembled, completely defenseless. Would this be the end of her? Unless Dennis came to save her, or something else distracted this man, there was nothing she could do to avoid… No, she didn't even want to think about that.

"We know what we have to do now, don't we?" he asked, with a cackle placed directly after this question. As Alyssa curled herself into a ball, he bent over even further, bringing his face, or his mask rather, closer to hers. Alyssa prepared herself for the worst.

"Well!? What are ya waiting for!? Make me a sandwich!"

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And there it is! The result of too much idle daydreaming and a horribly disturbed mind! Reviews would be lovely, don't leave without one. 


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